The 38 Million Dollar Smile - Stevenson Richard (е книги TXT) 📗

“I realize I may have to wait until April twenty-seventh.”

“Donald, that’s twelve days from now. I have a feeling

you’re going to have to get a handle on all this well before then.

Surely General Yodying isn’t so dumb and incompetent that he

won’t track us down here. And if he does, we might not be so

deft and clever and lucky the next time.”

“True. But I’m sure Pugh has a Plan B and a Plan C and a

Plan D. It’s how he thinks. To be on the safe side, though,

maybe you should head home, Timothy. I’m sure Pugh could

get you over to Cambodia, and you could fly home from

Phnom Penh, just like Griswold said.”

Timmy looked back at the temple. A couple of elderly

monks in their orange robes were walking inside followed by

three young novices. The gold leaf on one of the smaller

Buddha images in an outside alcove was glowing now in the last

tangerine-colored light, and the sea beyond looked so soft that

you could float out over it, suspended by particles of light, and drift down for a swim and then have a nice green curry along

the beach.

Timmy said, “I may not make it to magical April twenty-

seventh. But for now, I want to stick around. Despite what

happened to me, I like this place.”

“Me too,” I said. “All we have to do to really enjoy Thailand

is keep from being hurled into our next lives prematurely.”

“Okay, let’s do it that way, if we can. Survive first, and then

take on whatever pleasant features Thailand has to offer next.”

“Deal.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

The two motorcycle guys at the foot of Monkey Mountain

were not assassins. They were moto-taxi drivers, and since it

was dark now Timmy and I hired them to take us back to the

compound. My phone rang just as we reached the house, and it

was Bob Chicarelli.

“Can you hear me, Strachey?”

“Perfectly.”

“Good, because you’ll want to know about this. Are you still

working for any of the Griswolds?”

“Yes, but not Ellen and Bill. Nothing has changed since they

pretty much cut me off yesterday morning. According to Ellen,

I’m supposed to tie up any loose ends here and then head

home. But now I’m working for Gary Griswold. I’m helping

protect him — for the moment anyway. He’s not too crazy

about having me around, either, so there’s no telling how long

this job — if you can even call it a job — is going to last. Why do you ask?”

“It’s just as well that you’re not counting on Bill and Ellen

for fees or expenses. Algonquin Steel has been in total turmoil

over the last twenty-four hours. The Albany Griswolds are

struggling to retain control of the company, with this offshore

group buying up shares by the shitload. Whoever the buyers are,

they’re paying premium prices and money seems to be no

object to these people. So just do understand that Ellen is going to be plenty distracted until all this comes to a head at the

company’s annual meeting at the end of this month, when it is

very likely that Bill will lose control of the company. I don’t

know whether any of this affects what you’re doing over there,

but since I basically got you into this I thought you should be

kept up to speed.”

“Yeah. This might be helpful, I’m beginning to think.”

200 Richard Stevenson

“Hey, Strachey, that’s great news that you were able to

spring your boyfriend and that Thai kid. How did you pull that

off?”

“It’s this Thai PI, Rufus Pugh, I’m working with. He knows

his way around Bangkok the way you know your way around

Albany. Except he’s also got muscle-boy gunsels and acrobats

and an arsenal of smelly fruit. Tell me something, Bob. You said Algonquin Steel’s annual meeting is at the end of the month.

Do you mean the very end, like April thirtieth?”

“No, I think it’s the twenty-seventh.”

“Uh-huh. What do you know about the group that’s trying

to take over the company?”

“Nothing, really. I’m told they’re based in the Caymans. But

that’s probably just a front, and the buyers could be anybody

anywhere in the world.”

“Is Algonquin in such good shape that it would be all that

desirable to foreign investors? Why is the company suddenly so

red-hot?”

“That’s a bit murky,” Chicarelli said. “Algonquin is solid and

profitable and I would say an excellent long-term investment.

But it’s not so flashy that anybody is likely to make a quick

killing on it. The company is almost blue chip–like in the way

it’s likely to keep paying out modest but dependable dividends

for decades to come.”

“It sounds as if Algonquin would make a nice conservative

addition to any institutional endowment.”

“I’d say so, yes. But I doubt if it’s Yale or the Ford

Foundation that’s going after Algonquin now. Whoever these

buyers are, they are very, very aggressive.”

I asked Chicarelli if he had informed Ellen Griswold that her

brother-in-law Gary had been located and, at least for the

moment, was in Pugh’s and my protective custody.

“I left a message with Ellen, but I have yet to hear back.

Which is odd, since it was her hiring you to find the guy that

got all these strange turds flying around in the air in the first place. I’m assuming she’s pleased but currently distracted.

THE 38 MILLION DOLLAR SMILE 201

Maybe she’ll call you directly when she has a spare moment.

Meanwhile, if I find out more, should I call you and let you

know?”

“Yes. By all means.”

Timmy was laid out on a chaise back in the poolside

gardens, studying the night sky. The stars were blurry in the

warm haze but offered up the same northern hemisphere

constellations visible in upstate New York.

I said, “Are you attempting to discern your future up there?”

“Yes. The stars are saying: Timothy, tonight you will get a

good night’s sleep.”

I sat down and told him about my conversation with Bob

Chicarelli. “I do believe,” I said, “that Gary Griswold is behind the attempted takeover of Algonquin Steel. Probably in

partnership with Anant na Ayudhaya, the ex–minister of finance

Griswold was going to do the currency speculation deal with

and then didn’t. Once they get hold of Algonquin, they can

donate it to the Sayadaw U Buddhism center Griswold is

sponsoring, and it will support the center in perpetuity, or at

least as long as capitalism lasts. Griswold builds the center, and he and these Thai investors keep it solvent. It’s good for

Buddhism in Thailand, and Griswold and his cohorts earn so

much merit they’ll be sitting pretty for tens or even hundreds of lives in the future.”

Timmy sat up but looked puzzled. “That is very weird.”

“It’s the best explanation we have for the timing of

Griswold’s big investment project and its coming to fruition

this month. It also explains his secrecy. He doesn’t want us to

find out about it, because he thinks we might blab to his

brother and sister-in-law, and for some reason he doesn’t want

them to know that he’s the man behind the takeover.”

“Jeez, Donald. It’s his own family. What could possibly be

going on that would lead Griswold to force his own brother out

of the business their father founded? I know this kind of thing

happens in families — all-out bloody wars, even, over control

202 Richard Stevenson

of a family business. But don’t we know that Griswold actually

washed his hands of Algonquin Steel several years ago?”

“Kawee told you there was some kind of Griswold family